Is it a bird? No. Is it a plane? Yes. The Dove, the first of nine British Airways aircraft transformed for the London 2012 Games by the artistic vision of the designer Pascal Anson, took flight over the skies of London on Tuesday.

According to the airline, the art transforms the boring old Airbus A319 into a bird of peace – an irony that may not be lost on those under its Heathrow flight path.

Doves are something of an Olympic emblem having featured regularly at opening ceremonies, notably the last time the Games came to London, in 1948.

A team of 24 people took eight days to spraypaint the aircraft white, with gold strokes to represent feathers. The planes will be in service around Europe over the next year.

The design of the plane uses the cockpit for a beak, fuselage and wings for the main body, and the tailfin as a tail.

Anson said: "The Dove signifies a positive message wherever you go in the world. I also hope it makes people stop, think and look twice."

Artist Tracey Emin, Anson's mentor for the project, said: "The first time I saw Pascal's design, it made me smile. I will constantly be looking up every time I hear a plane fly over. The plane is universal. Everyone will understand it."

Critics said it could herald a spiritual renaissance for British Airways, which once banned a stewardess from wearing a crucifix.

Jonathan Jones, the Guardian art critic, said the dove was a symbol of the holy spirit closely associated with the annunciation.

He said: "It's nice. The gold pattern breaks up the solidity of the plane. It would be interesting to see it in flight, if it can have that ethereal effect.

"Emin has a good eye for nature in her drawings, a lot of her art does have this simple innocent quality. This artist Pascal Anson she has mentored has had a beautiful idea. But no one's going to mistake it for a dove."